Bedsheet-Tucking Device

ABSTRACT

A handheld, paddle-shaped device with an elongate, flexible shaft that facilitates tucking bedcovers beneath a mattress. The elongate, flexible shaft facilitates reaching across a mattress to a mattress corner in order to tuck a sheet beneath the far corner of the mattress.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to bedclothes holders, sheet holders, bed-cover holders and particularly, holders for facilitating making the bed.

BACKGROUND

Bedclothes holders, sheet holders and means for securing sheets to beds are widespread in the art. much of the related prior art focuses on tucking flat sheets to a mattress. The fitted sheet, invented in 1957, mitigated the need for most of those devices because fitted sheets were shaped to fit a mattress, and were held in place with sewn-in elastic. Over the years mattress manufacturers have made increasingly bigger mattresses, for which consumers have had to purchase larger sheets. In order to fit their existing sheets onto the bigger mattresses, consumers have looked to devices that latch, clip, tie, or otherwise attach a regular-sized fitted sheet to a large mattress. In addition, because it can be difficult to pick up a large, heavy mattress while making a bed, various tools exist in the art that tuck bedsheets without having to lift the mattress.

SUMMARY

A hand-held, paddle-shaped device facilitates tucking bedcovers beneath a mattress. The device is substantially symmetrical about a central plane that extends from its proximal to distal end. In one embodiment the device has a contoured spoon-shaped paddle at its distal end that is of substantially uniform thickness. A long, flexible shaft extends from the spoon-shaped distal end to a handle at the proximal end. The shaft is of a length that assists a person in reaching across a common mattress to reach a corner of it from the opposite side. The long, flexible shaft may be composed of flat spring steel with sufficient flexion to hold and conduct a stretched sheet to the far corner of a mattress. The spoon-shaped paddle is affixed to the long flexible shaft at its distal end and has a curved tip. In cross section, the slope of this curved tip changes between 60°-90°. This tip is designed to catch and conduct a sheet under a mattress.

One skilled in the art understands that ribs or other variations in thickness are possible without changing the scope of the invention.

In use, the device is laid atop a sheet on a mattress with its concave surface facing down and its distal, spoon-shaped end facing any corner of the mattress. A user folds a corner of the sheet around the lip of the spoon-shaped end of the device, and then conducts the device along the mattress surface toward a corner of the mattress. When the device and sheet meet the corner of the mattress, the user tilts the proximal, hand-held end up, causing the long, flexible shaft to bend as the distal end moves downward to continue tucking the sheet beneath the mattress corner. If used on a fitted sheet, the device steers the fitted sheet's elastic edge to snap into place beneath the mattress.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective, top view of an example embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective, bottom view thereof;

FIG. 3 shows a detailed cross-sectional view thereof;

FIG. 4 shows the embodiment in use on provided bedsheets and bed.

FIG. 5 shows the embodiment in continued use on provided bedsheets and bed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a bottom- and top-perspective view of an example embodiment 100. A tool for assisting in applying a fitted sheet to a mattress has a spoon-shaped distal end 110, and an elongate flexible shaft 111 with a handle 118. The spoon-shaped distal end 110 further has a contoured tip 120. The inner surface 112 is contoured to form a gradually increasing concave radius approaching the tip 120. This feature is described in further detail in FIG. 3.

In some embodiments the flexible shaft 111 is a flat spring. A flat spring has two opposing, broad, flat sides and relatively narrower edges having a rectangular cross section. One skilled in the art is familiar with flat materials that have spring tension, including spring steel, steam-bent wood, some resilient plastics and the like. A flat spring flexes on its longitudinal axis but is substantially stiff laterally. The flat spring's anisotropic flexibility enables the spoon-shaped distal end to be directed along the curve of a mattress corner as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

FIG. 3 is a detailed cross-section showing the specific geometry of the form that provides the function of releasing a sheet under the corner of a mattress. The spoon-shaped paddle 110 is substantially tangent to reference line 136. Following the form from handle to spoon-shaped form 110 and on to the tip 120 at the distal end, the cross-section can be seen curving away from the tangent line 136 along edge 130. Tangent lines 134 and 136 illustrate a change in the slope of line tangent to the convex (spoon-shaped surface) 122. In some embodiments, the angle 138 is between 60° and 90°. The contour that is formed by the changing radius between the region indicated by arrow 130 and arrow 132 can be seen as a section of an ellipse. One skilled in the art understands that the changing radius of an ellipse may allow a sheet to slide continuously along the spoon-shaped surface as it is directed under a mattress.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the example embodiment 100 readied for use on a provided mattress 124 with a provided sheet 126. FIG. 5 shows the device directing a sheet 126 around the edge of a mattress 124.

The spoon-shaped distal end is sized and shaped to fit around the corner of a mattress. In use, a user grasps the device's handle 118 with the concave surface 112 of the spoon-shaped distal end 110 facing downward, and folds a corner of a sheet 126 over the device's spoon-shaped distal end 110. The inner, concave side 112 of the device faces the mattress; the outer, convex side 122 faces up and is disposed above the sheet 126 in order to conduct the sheet downward and beneath the mattress. A flat spring provides flexibility perpendicular to the flat surface of the spring and rigidity in the direction parallel to the flat surface, thus providing control over the lateral movement of the apparatus while allowing the distal end to pivot to the appropriate position to release the sheet under the mattress, as shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 illustrates the apparatus 100 with the flexible shaft 128 flexed so that the paddle pivots to allow a sheet to fall off the spoon-shaped distal end 110 so that it may be tucked in the sheet. With the sheet 126 folded over the spoon-shaped distal end 110 of the device, the user grasps the handle 118 and slides the device toward the mattress corner. This causes the shaft 111 to flex, moving the spoon-shaped distal end 110 downward along arrow 121 along the curve of the mattress so that the lip 120 ends up proximal to the bottom corner of the mattress 124, with the sheet brought with it. The sheet then slips off of the spoon-shaped distal end 110. A fitted sheet with an elastic edge will snap off of the lip 120 and rest under the corner of the mattress 124.

One skilled in the art understands that many materials may be used to form the apparatus. In some embodiments the apparatus if constructed of formed plywood. The grain of wood allows for anisotropic flexibility. In the spoon-shaped distal end, slots are formed in the plywood to act as hooks 314 where sheet-corners may be tucked. The hooks provide a relief in the tension that occurs in the plywood when it is formed into a spoon-shape. This allows bending of the formed plywood in two directions.

These embodiments are understood to be exemplary and not limiting. Additions and modifications to what is expressly described here are understood to be included within the scope of the invention. The features of the various embodiments described here are not mutually exclusive and can exist in various combinations and permutations, even if such combinations or permutations are not made express here, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. An apparatus for tucking a bed sheet comprising: a proximal end and a distal end; and a flat-spring flexible shaft having a first end and a second end; and a handle at said proximal end fixedly engaged with the first end of said flat-spring flexible shaft; and a concave paddle fixedly engaged with the second end of said flat-spring flexible shaft; wherein holding the apparatus by the handle at the proximal end and placing the concave paddle downward and under a folded corner of a sheet, and moving the apparatus laterally toward a corner of a mattress, the flat-spring flexible shaft bends perpendicular to the mattress surface to direct said concave paddle along the mattress corner, toward the bottom of said corner, and said sheet will be moved and tucked under said mattress as the apparatus moves, flexes, retracts and unflexes.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said concave paddle is comprised of a substantially uniform thickness.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus further comprises a central plane about which the apparatus is symmetrical.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said concave paddle terminates at the distal end in a curved tip; and in cross-section, the slope of a tangent to the surface changes between 60°-90°. 